LATVIA
Grifs hopes for better catches of cod
Coming to terms with the provisions of the CFP A fishing company owned by Juris Petersons, Grifs was created in 1993, when he bought boats from the former fishing collective Banga. Today the company has quotas for cod and sprats and also offers vessel repair and other metal working services.
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rifs has a fleet of four vessels of which three are from Soviet times while the fourth is of Danish origin. None of the vessels is new, says Juris Petersons, the owner of the company, but with our small quota and the current prices of fish in the market there is no way we can afford to buy new vessels. Since buying new vessels is not supported the company invests significantly in their maintenance – one of the boats just had the steel of its hull replaced, a job that Grifs undertook itself. In fact, apart from fishing the company also has some ship repair and metal working activities. But its main business is fishing, an occupation that of late has been threatened by quota changes combined with falling prices for some species.
Cod price falls, while sprat price increases In particular the price of cod which two or three years ago was between EUR3 and EUR4 per kilo has now fallen to less than half of that, claims Mr Petersons. In addition he finds that sales of sprat and herring, which are traditionally to markets in the east such as Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, are now hampered by the political problems there that have
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Eurofish Magazine 3 / 2014
led to a depreciation of currencies. As a result activities on these markets have slowed down. Sprat and herring is also used in the production of fishmeal and fish oil and Grifs also sells its catches to these factories such as the FF Skagen plant in the north of Denmark, a huge facility that processes almost 1,000 tonnes of raw material a day. Grifs can also sell its fish to factories that process the fish into products for human consumption, but only if the payment terms are good. If I am told to deliver the fish today, but that payment will take two months, then I am not interested, says Juris Petersons. The problem, however, is not with the market alone, but also because of the falling catches in particular of cod. Grifs has a quota of 700 tonnes of cod, but for the last two years catches in spring, a time when they should be at their peak, have been very disappointing.
Catches of cod are very poor Mr Petersons says that he is actually losing on trying to catch cod, because the returns have been so meagre and do not cover the costs of the boat, fuel, and crew. The situation is a reversal of what it was three years ago. Then, the cod fetched three times more than
Juris Petersons, the owner of the fishing company Grifs SIA
sprat and herring. Since then prices of sprat and herring have edged upwards. This is partly due to the vessels that have been scrapped to bring capacity more in line with the resource, but also because fishing companies have invested in freezing capacity and can better control the volume of fish that is released to the market and thereby can influence the price. Monitoring and control of the fishery is also stricter, which may have contributed to a reduction of the amount of fish on the market and resulted in higher prices.
Putting up its own freezing plant was something that Grifs considered and then decided against, a decision Mr Petersons today feels may have been a little short sighted. The reason at the time was that he was reluctant to start trading with companies in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. Today however, he can see that having his own freezing space would be an advantage and points to companies that are “feeling much better” because they have freezers and storage facilities and are
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